Scoot Across the Ice on This Homemade Snowmobile

Can’t afford a modern snowmobile? Well, here’s how you can build one for yourself.

This guy might not win any snowmobile races with his homemade contraption, but I bet he had fun building it and even more fun scooting across this frozen lake.

There’s just something about these do-it-yourself machines that tickles our fancy and makes us smile. This rig won’t make any tight turns, that’s for sure, but how cool is it to travel across the ice using a pair of skis, a fat inner tube and a chainsaw?

It looks like he welded a few pipes together to make the basic framework and handlebars, and also the wheel frame that secures the inner tube. Then, he mounted an old chainsaw engine to one of the handlebars and connected a chain or belt to the wheel apparatus that turns the inner tube.

Secure a couple of skis to the bottom, start her up and hang on.

This poor man’s snowmobile looks to be suited for large areas of frozen water or straightaways. It looks like he has to jockey it a bit with his body weight when he wants it to turn slightly. Also, it looks like you can only brake by slowing down and using your feet like Fred Flintstone.

Sure, there’s plenty of room for modifications or improvements on this machine. You could maybe substitute the inner tube with a fat-tire bicycle wheel for better traction, or you might even add a seat to it.

I suppose you could even find a way to pull your ice fishing gear across the lake.

For a quick and fun winter weekend project, this looks awesome.

Like what you see here? You can read more great articles by David Smith at his Facebook page, Stumpjack Outdoors.